Cranbrook Revisited

Eliel Saarinen’s Kingswood Boys School, 1927 is a masterpiece of campus planning and architecture. The sequence of courts and the integration with the track and sports field creates a superb composition that has variety and unity. Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950) came to Michigan from Helsinki in 1922 after being a runner-up for the Chicago Tribune Competition. He was hired by the newspaper magnate George Gough Booth to design the school as part of an ongoing set of commissions that transformed Cranbrook into one of America’s most celebrated art academies.

Saarinen’s Kingswood School is a brilliant example of campus planning integrating the sports field with its running track into the composition. The plan creates a masterful sequence of courts and spaces that are linked together creating variety and intimacy.